The Master, Mark Garret

In a dimly lit auditorium a short blonde woman walks out onto the stage. A spotlight illuminates her lithe figure in a satin blue dress and her hair in a dutch braid. With a smile she begins.

"Hello and welcome loyal viewers! Thank you for tuning into another season of Harem Hotel. My Name is Cassandra and I will be your host for this season. I hope you are excited to see this season’s Master get his fairytale ending as I am. We have nine lovely women who will be competing for his affection and their place in his Harem. Now let's go ahead and meet our season’s MASTER!" Cassandra exclaimed to the empty theater, and sat down in a comfortable armchair as the light on the stage slowly began to increase in intensity.

In a basement dimly lit by computer monitors sat one very frustrated but excited man. Mark was trying to track down all the mailing addresses of the wedding invitees, and finding it rather frustrating to track down some of his college friends as he had always contacted most of them via social media and didn’t actually have their phone number, and alas quite a few of them had deactivated their profiles. Mark and Allie had been together for nine years now, and they were finally getting married, in another six months. The venue was booked, the catering decided upon, the DJ selected, now he just needed to finish tracking down the last few people’s contact info on the guest list and everything he could do for the wedding would be done besides waiting.

Mark was glad they had worked through their problems and he finally had his anxiety under control, because Allie was worth the wait. He thought back on their relationship about how they met at a Magic: The Gathering tournament at their university. How she just went on and on about all of her favorite games and Anime, which had a lot in common with Mark himself. He was fortunate to meet her when he was starting grad school as he hadn’t made many friends there at the time, and sort of inherited hers.

I guess I should take a break from this and maybe do some dishes as this isn’t going to get finished today, Mark thought. He went around the house, as quietly as he could to not disturb his fiancée from her work, picking up any stray dishes that he or Allie had left around the house. After gathering as many dishes as he could he headed to the kitchen and sat them down on the counter above the dishwasher. It was then he heard a strange sound coming up the basement stairs. Thinking something started playing on his computer he started down the stairs to turn it off but as he did his shirt caught on the handrail and he tripped forward down the stairs. “AAAHHH.”

Mark was confused as he stumbled onto what looked like a theater stage with a set of eleven comfortable armchairs with nine on one side facing the other two. In one of those two sat a rather short blonde woman in a rather refined looking blue dress with a rather serene looking smile adorning her lips. Dang is she small Mark thought as he finally met her eyes which caused him to just stare for a few moments. He was mesmerized as her irises changed color, reminding him of the ocean, hearing the waves, and the scent and taste of salt water in the air. After a prolonged silence and Mark just standing there lost in her gaze, she finally spoke, “Well, hello there Mark it is a pleasure to finally get to meet you, my name is Cassandra. Would you care to have a seat?” and gestured to the chair beside her. Mark hesitantly went over to the empty chair feeling weirdly calm and reassured by Cassandra’s smile and sat down. “Where exactly am I? Last I remember I was falling down the… SHIT! DID I DIE? Is this the afterlife?” Mark Questioned.

“No Mark, you did not die, though by the end of this experience you may think you have ‘died and gone to heaven’ as the expression goes, or at least I hope you will feel that way. No, you have been selected to be on a very special reality show streamed live to the multiverse, one where a group of women will be competing for your love and affection to be at your side called…”

“Harem Hotel” Mark said with a glare at the woman as she simultaneously exclaimed.

“HAREM HOTEL: MISSED ENCOUNTERS! … uh… well… How did you know that? I am pretty sure we don’t broadcast directly to your universe.”

“I read stories about your ‘seasons’ and … even voted in some polls, though I thought it was just some erotic fiction online, not, not real” Mark replied as a bit of guilt rose up in him at what he may have been party to.

“I see, well I must say it is a first for me to have a former audience member on the show, though I do suppose that makes explaining the situation to you easier.”

As she spoke Mark thought, wait I fell, I must have hit my head and I am in a coma or **** and just dreaming this. No this feels real like, way to real. Then realization hit him.

“Wait a second, SHIT look I know how this goes, please don’t bring my friends, or Allie’s family into this, I know there is no way you aren’t bringing her, but please most of them are happily married. Please I’ll even ‘get with the program’ so to speak just… please” Mark pleaded.

“Well if you know how it goes you know it isn’t completely up to me as the host who gets selected to participate. Though I will have you know that we are doing something slightly different this season, while the women will be people you are familiar with, they aren’t ones you were ever super close with. Also they are currently single women who you actually missed out on having a romantic relationship with, but in another reality you two ended up in quite a happy relationship due to only slight differences in circumstances between your realities. Please believe me when I say I truly want all of you to be happy in the end.”

“Uh well, I can’t say I am thrilled by the abduction and transformation of” Mark glanced at the empty chairs, “I am going to say nine women. I do understand the reality of the situation, and I will admit, it isn’t like I haven’t had fantasies about this.

“Great!” Cassandra said as she clapped her hands together, “I am so pleased when a Master is understanding, and please believe me that I hope you get your fairytale ending, after all here at Harem Hotel is where dreams come true. Now first an introduction from our Master.”

Mark felt a compulsion to speak wash over him.

“Hi, my name is Mark Garret. I guess I am the master of this season. I grew up Catholic, though I wouldn’t describe myself as such now. I pursued data science even going to grad school where I met my wonderful fiancée Allie, whom I have been dating for 9 years now. We have had a rough patch but worked through it. I am 32 years old and 6’ 2”, 200lbs, I am a men's large in shirt size and 36 waist and 34 inseam. My penis is 7” erect. I am only attracted to women. My last sexual encounter was with my fiancée Allie, though it has been a while as we have both been busy.” Mark finished his introduction and then groaned “I am guessing that all the women will be giving something similar.”

“Absolutely. Now without further ado let us meet our first lovely contestant.” Cassandra said as she faced the empty theater.